Beautiful or Bust

Going into the oven...

There's an experiment in my oven.  In all appearances they are regular muffins.  Oh, how I hope they turn out to be regular muffins!

I believe this is my first experiment with going outside of a recipe for baking.  Because ,yes, I know that baking is a Science and cooking is an Art.  And I have always adhered to this basic rule.  Not today.  Today, I took what I liked from this recipe and added a little that I like from that other recipe.

In my oven are Experimental Banana Oat Applesauce Muffins.  Six have blueberries pushed into them and a lovely (hopefully!) streusel topping.  Six have a multitude of tiny chocolate chips shoved into the center - I'm hoping for a molten chocolate center, designed to please my chocolate-loving daughter.

Oh! There's the buzzer on my stove going off...

On the cooling rack...

*  *  *  *

They still look wonderful.  Though I was hoping that the chocolate chips would melt into a formidable pool of lava hot chocolate goodness, the chips still look individual.  Oh well.  I guess taste will tell how my successful  my experiment was.

*  *  *  *

This is awful, I have to try two of them.....  I hate to tell you this but they are... *tasting* ...yummy!  Definitely a more dense muffin, because of the whole wheat flour and oatmeal, and not very sweet.  I personally don't like my muffins to be very sweet.  I'm thinking of a reasonably healthy breakfast or snack here.

The blueberry streusel and the chocolate chip varieties have surprisingly different tastes, considering they are both made from the same batter. In the blueberry I taste more cinnamon, like a coffee cake, but in the chocolate chip, more banana-ness.  Who knew?

Join me in an experiment?

Experimental Banana Oat Applesauce Muffins:

Oven: 350  Baking Time: 20 - 25 min. Yield: One dozen


1 egg
3 mashed bananas
1/3 cup brown sugar (I use demerara always)
1 individual portion of applesauce (just over 1/3 c)
3 TBSP sunflower oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oats
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Method:

Mix thoroughly first six ingredients in one bowl.  Combine remaining ingredients in another bowl.  Pour one bowl's stuff into the other.  Mix gently with a spoon until just combined.  Don't over mix as it activates the gluten too much.

For blueberry streusel:

Five or six berries poked into each muffin
1/3 cup of oats
TBSP of butter
TBSP of brown sugar
Combined and reserved for top.  Divide evenly between muffin tops. Double if for 12.

For chocolate chip:

Poke as many of those little babies as you would like to eat in your finished product. Or a dollop of Nutella prodded into the center would be amazing as well!